Maple Platter

[Earl Eyre]

14"x1". I'm sure many of you saw this platter in AAW magazine a few weeks ago. I hadn't tried the carving or stippling so wanted to give it a go. I couldn't do a bowl like he did because my piece of wood was a piece of dimensional lumber.

All of the pieces I've posted in the last month or two have been from some maple I bought at Cook Woods here in Klamath Falls, OR. They advertise on the internet and e-bay and have wonderful hardwoods of all kinds and sell all over the country. When I went in awhile back they had a pallet full of this maple that they were selling dirt cheap because the figure only ran through parts of the board and they were odd lengths. It also had a bunch of rotten spots in it so they really couldn't sell it as dimensional lumber. But it sure makes beautiful platters and disks.

Earl

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is beautiful Earl. You did a nice job on it. It does have some curl in it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Earl.......A beautiful platter! What kind of finish did you use? Beautiful platter!

[Tom Sherman]

Nice platter Earl I think you did it justice.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice Earl, that certainly is some beautiful wood!

Corey

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Gorgeous work, Earl. Would this platter be eligible for the AAW forums contest?

[Earl Eyre]

What kind of finish did you use?

Three coats of Minwax Gloss wipe on poly and then Beall buffed. I know many turners don't like the poly but I think when it is buffed out smooth and waxed it is hard to tell the difference with laquer. I use the semi-gloss, too.

Earl

[Ernie Nyvall]

Nice platter Earl. How'd you create the swooshes?

Ernie

[David Fried]

Very nice Earl. The platter in the article is only 8" but looks nice scaled up.

I thought it was an interesting article and have started on one too, but mine is scaled down to 6". It will be fun to put the three pictures side-by-side.

[Earl Eyre]

How'd you create the swooshes?

Ernie

You make a template of one swoosh and then sort of pivot it for four lines. I used my Dremel V Gouge and carved out the four lines for each side (4 V's for each side--make sense?) Then I took a very small ball tool (don't know what the proper name is) on the dremel and you just keeping making the indentations over and over until the whole area is totally dimpled. Used Vinegar and steel wool to make the ebonizing solution.

I'll be able to do a lot better job on the swooshes next time. Made some mistakes on these.

Henry-- I'll have to check into the AAW contest.

David--I'm glad you are making one. It will be fun to see all three side by side.

Earl

[Ernie Kuhn]

Earl,
You sure capitalized on the wood figure. Nice design. Also, the "face" at 9:00 o'clock is a nice touch.
Ernie

[Mark Cothren]

Fantastic!!!

[Mike Ramsey]

Hey I saw that in the AAW mag!;) . Great looking platter Earl!